Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. I have a question. Did Senator Coverdell not offer a substitute to the Robb amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, even though Senators Reid and Durbin have been talking about it for a couple of hours, and Senator Gramm and I spoke on it for about a half hour, essentially, the tax plan George W. Bush has is not part of the President's proposal, but it will be part of President-elect George W. Bush's budget. So we wait for him to deliver his budget, which will indeed accommodate his tax cut. All this is a political scuffle here today in advance of his budget. He hasn't even had a chance to give us one and tell us what kind of Government he wants. They want us to adopt this while we are fighting over a Clinton budget that increases spending beyond anything President George W. Bush would do. I commend soon-to-be-President-elect Bush for suggesting a major tax reform. When the American people actually see it, they are going to think it is good for America. It will fit in his budget. That is an important time. I move to table the Reid amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOMENICI. I believe all time has been yielded on our side. Are we ready for another amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I say to the Senator from Arizona that this is not a lot of money he is asking for here. I guess technically you can't direct it in a budget resolution. But I think when we vote for this this afternoon--I hope everyone will vote for it--we will be saying: Let's begin to solve this problem. Let's not sit around and say families within the military are too big. Let's fix it. Am I kind of speaking for what the Senator from Arizona is worried about? Am I on the right track?

Mr. DOMENICI. How many years does my colleague think it would take to eat up all the surplus and be right there ready to use the Social Security surplus if we increased that spending 14 percent a year for the next few years? How many years?

Mr. DOMENICI. What we are going to do is have a vote on Senator Durbin's amendment, then have a vote on Senator Gramm's amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. Can we agree we are going to vote on the Gramm amendment and then we will vote on the Durbin amendment, regardless of what happens to the Gramm amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. I don't know what the words ``queue it up'' mean. We ought to get it straight. I don't object to his sending an amendment to the desk, but I do object to gaining any kind of preferential treatment for that amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I want to make an observation and see if my colleague agrees with me. As a matter of fact, if we took President Clinton's budget and adopted it--and it has a 14-percent increase in nondefense discretionary spending; that is, 13 appropriations bills less defense and military construction. It has a 14-percent increase. I believe it was the Senator who found that is the highest increase in domestic discretionary spending since the years of Jimmy Carter's Presidency when inflation was rampant.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the votes relative to the following amendments be scheduled to occur at 2 p.m. in the sequence listed, with no second-degree amendments in order, where applicable, prior to the votes, and there be 2 minutes prior to each vote for explanation, and all votes after the first vote in the sequence be limited to 10 minutes. The amendments are as follows: Reid amendment No. 2985, which I understand is a Durbin amendment, essentially--is that correct, Senator?--and then Gramm amendment No. 2973--and Senator Gramm is here. it is the same amendment to which he has been speaking--and then Durbin amendment No. 2953, as amended, if amended. I also ask unanimous consent that following the allotted 1 hour of debate, the pending amendments be laid aside until the stacked votes. It may be that there is no time.

Mr. DOMENICI. I reserve the remainder of my time.

Mr. DOMENICI. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. DOMENICI. I yield my time.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. DOMENICI. I will take the time.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: Are we scheduled to vote at 10:30?

Mr. DOMENICI. I yield to the Senator from Texas.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I do not think anybody objects to this amendment. This is an effort to say to the Department of Defense we want them to fix the problem of food stamps in the military. It adds a small amount of money over the years to target the solving of the food stamp problem in the military. That is essentially the McCain amendment. We should adopt it. He wants a rollcall vote. I believe the yeas and nays have been ordered.

Mr. DOMENICI. Parliamentary inquiry. Is that amendment in order?

Mr. DOMENICI. The Chairman of the Armed Services Committee has crafted an important provision that can improve retention in our Armed Services. The cost effectiveness of the provision is particularly notable. It is regrettable that the Administration's lack of compliance has caused the delay of an entire year in the effective date of this provision of last year's Department of Defense Authorization bill. Servicemen and women have lost out because of the Administration's failure to act. I understand that you also have a problem with moving forward on legislation that permits military personnel to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan because deferred revenue or a ``revenue loss'' is attributable to such legislation and this makes the legislation potentially vulnerable to a Budget Act point of order. As my friend from Virginia knows, our budget resolution, S. Con. Res. 101, as well as the budget resolution passed by our colleagues in the House of Representatives, H. Con. Res. 290, last week, provides for up to $150 billion in revenue reductions over the next five years. It is my understanding that the revenue loss in the form of deferred revenue associated with your TSP provision is $10 million in 2001 and $321 million over the next five years. Let me assure my colleague, the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, that the revenue assumptions in the budget resolution can accommodate the revenue loss associated with your TSP statute. Moreover, let me say that I will happily make it clear in the statement of managers on the conference report on this year's budget resolution that the revenue assumptions will permit your TSP provision to move forward and to be implemented without the threat of a Budget Act point of order.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOMENICI. I yield 3 minutes on the amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI. Is there a vote following that, also?

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask consent that Gary Tomasulo, a Coast Guard fellow in Senator Mike DeWine's office, be granted privilege of the floor during consideration of this resolution.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator McCain, I ask unanimous consent that his legislative fellow, Navy Commander Douglas Denneny, be granted floor privileges during consideration of S. Con. Res. 101.